Amesbury Housing Trust

RECEIVED By City Clerk at 8:33 am, 3/30/22 AMESBURY CITY HALL 62 Friend Street Amesbury, MA 01913 Amesbury Housing Trust MEETING MINUTES February 9, 2022 @4:30pm VIRTUAL Members in attendance: Kerry Hamel-Pope, Margaret Hoffman, Kathy Troiano, Nancy Frick, Steve Stanganelli Members Absent: Drew LeFleur, Flo Pamphile, Mayor Kassandra Gove Others in attendance: Angela Cleveland 1. Call to Order at 4:40pm. Roll Call by Kerry Hamel-Pope 2. Minutes from January 12, 2022. Motion from Margaret Hoffman, second from Kathy Troiano. Roll call vote unanimous. 3. Public Comment – none. 4. Communications  Housing Trust Account update: According to the City’s Treasurer, the Trust’s principal balance is $90,278.57. Earnings total as of 1/31/2022 $372.32 for a grand total of $90,650.89 as of 1/31/2022.  Communication from the State about extension of Housing Choice Designation until 2025. There is also grant funding available through the Housing Choice Program. Angie proposed several ideas: Ask: $100,000 to hire a consultant to guide us through this process. • Using the existing Housing Production Plan Action Plan, update how we can continue to address the need to develop affordable housing units using our three buckets: Preservation, Planning and Policy. • Assist I AMesbury 2030 Task Force with development of the Housing Element. This would include updating our demographics and unit numbers and assisting the Task Force with Community Engagement. • Based on those conversations update Inclusionary Housing Ordinance and In- Law/Accessory Dwelling. Amesbury will conduct a review of current Inclusionary Zoning Ordinance (IZO), analyze various policy options, and recommend changes to the existing IZO to reflect current demand for affordable housing in the city. This will also include an update/recodification of our In-Law Apartments to an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU). We would be willing to separate these into 2 or three different projects if it makes sense, but ultimately we would like to accomplish all of this within a year. Steve asked if the funding would come to the City if we received the grant, or would it come to the Housing Trust. Angie said it would come to the City. Margaret asked Angela to look into what consultants think about the $100,000 ask. Consultants are charging a lot higher rates now due to all of the pots of funding. Steve agreed especially because of the ADU changes. Steve also thought we should start at $200,000. But Margaret said we will need to justify it,  so we need to be realistic. Steve asked if we could use the funding for other elements of the Master Plan update. Angie mentioned that the Town of Salisbury received funding for their Master Plan. However, Angie mentioned that by the time we would receive the funding, most of our Elements will be wrapped up. Angie will also ask MVPC if they can give us an idea about when the new 2020 Census numbers will be out so we could potentially get a new Housing Production Plan out of this proposed project. Angie will prepare a draft Expression of Interest and send to the Trust before the next meeting to discuss and vote on at the March 9th meeting. 5. Existing Business  North Shore HOME Consortium Funding Next Steps. Angie referenced the memo (see attached) regarding the proposed plan for HOME Consortium funding. After talking with both social service agencies that we approached to support a Tenant Based Rental Assistance Program, they both declined to accept the funding due to capacity and legal concerns. Angie reached out to Haverhill to discuss their program. While it is a rather involved program, once we get it moving it would be rather straightforward to manage. Angie calculated what it could cost based on an average rent for a one-bedroom subsidized unit, using a standard support structure for rental assistance (70% HOME funded, 30% tenant contribution) and that we would be able to support about 3 families. If we went to a more even rental assistance (50% HOME funded, 50% tenant contribution) we could support about 4 families. The City would have to front the funding for this program and be reimbursed by the North Shore HOME Consortium. Based on the tasks needed, Angie estimated that at about $25 per hour, it would cost between $1,250 and $2,500 to spend down this HOME allocation. Steve asked if we are just subsidizing one bedroom? Angie said we can provide funding for any number of bedrooms. Amesbury Heights 2-bedroom is $1,744 per month. Steve asked if they can get funding from any unit in Amesbury or just the Heights. Angie replied any unit. As long as they are not Section 8. Steve then asked if they can utilize RAFT or other State programs as well as HOME. Angie said they cannot “double dip”. They can apply for more than one program, but they can receive funding from more than one program. Margaret asked whether we have to determine what the rents are or what the “split” is at this point? And once this person to manage this program, can we then figure out how much we provide them? Angie replied yes. Margaret asked whether we have this agreement in place. Angie said we need to modify our current agreement with the North Shore HOME Consortium because it currently references the social service agencies. Margaret asked if it is only for Amesbury residents and only for affordable units. Angie said no, but they do need to income qualify. So Margaret said the maximum households we can support is about 5 households. Angie said yes, most likely. Angie also mentioned this could help us start a long-term Rental Assistance Program. Steve asked how we are deciding on the split. Angie said it would most likely depend on need. And that if they are coming to the City for rental assistance, they are most likely in dire need. Margaret asked if that is something that we need to decide. Angie said not right now, if the Trust doesn’t feel the need. Margaret asked if there is a possibility that the consultant could go over $2,500? Angie said it is possible, but she felt that 25 hours was a lot and based on the conversation with Haverhill this as a safe bet. Steve Stanganelli moved that the Housing Trust allocate up to $3,000 to hire a consultant to support the Tenant Based Rental Assistance Program with funding  from the North Shore HOME Consortium. Margaret Hoffman seconded. Roll Call vote unanimous. Margaret asked when we thought we would have someone in place. Angie said within the next couple of weeks and that we already started putting feelers out. Margaret asked if it would be a vendor or a staff person. Angie said it would most likely be a vendor, but it could be a staff person. 6. New Business  Affordable Housing Reports from Amesbury Heights and Briggs Mills (see attached). Angela went through a typical report from Amesbury Heights and proposed rents from Briggs Mills. She showed what the consultant has reviewed on our behalf and how much typical affordable rents were for both complexes.  Monitoring Consultant Contract. Angela mentioned that the consulting contract with LDS Consulting was up for renewal. She said she has been a great resource and is helping to keep our monitoring and affordable housing creation up to date. Steve Stanganelli made a motion to authorize the $6,000 from the Housing Trust funds to renew the Housing Consultant, LDS Consulting. Margaret Hoffman seconded. Roll call vote was unanimous.  Trader Alan’s/21 Pond View Avenue Disposition. Kerry mentioned that we should keep this on our radar as a potential location for housing. Kerry asked when the next meeting was. Angie mentioned it is scheduled for April 25. There was a lot of discussion about the results of the January 31st meeting. This parcel is City-owned and located right off of I-495. Kerry said the zoning might not allow, but it could potentially be used for mixed use. She mentioned a parcel in Ispwich that might be comparable. Kerry just wanted to make sure the Disposition Committee process is on the Trust’s radar and if you have ideas, please send them along to Angie. 7. Next Meeting – March 9, 2022 @4:30pm 8. Motion to adjourn by Nancy Frick and Margaret Hoffman seconded at 5:57pm